Monday, January 7, 2019

Today in Soap Opera History (January 7)

1963: Search for Tomorrow's Marian faced troubled times.
1974: How to Survive a Marriage premiered on NBC.
1980: As the World Turns' Mary was shocked to see Joyce.
2005: Young and the Restless' Drucilla and Phyllis faced off.

"History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Edge of Night, Sara (Teal Ames) had a drink at the bar with the man she recognized from the photo, Roy Benson. When Mike (John Larkin) arrived, Sara pretended he was her boyfriend which caused the man to leave. Mike had Willy (Edward Holmes) follow him.

1963: On Search for Tomorrow, Marian Rand (Jane McArthur) dashed in front of an oncoming car.

1965: On Peyton Place, an unhinged George Anderson (Henry Beckman) barricaded himself in Leslie Harrington's (Paul Langton) office with a gun.

How to Survive a Marriage's Joan Copeland as
Monica Courtland, Jennifer Harmon as Chris Kirby
and Steve Elmore as Peter Willis.

1974: Daytime soap opera How to Survive a Marriage premiered on NBC with a special 90-minute episode. Created by Anne Howard Bailey, the show starred Rosemary Prinz as Dr. Julie Franklin in its early episodes. The premiere featured two couples in bed together after having sex and implied they were nude under the covers. It was quite risqué at the time. The show replaced Return to Peyton Place in NBC's daytime lineup.

NBC vice president of daytime programming Lin Bolen said How to Survive a Marriage would be "a very contemporary dramatization of a problem which confronts so many couples in today's society - separation and impending divorce."

The 30-minute How to Survive a Marriage initially aired at 3:30 p.m. ET following the high-rated Another World. The show moved to 1:30 p.m. ET when Another World expanded to an hour January 6, 1975. The ratings, already low, got even worse.

How to Survive a Marriage ran for 335 episodes with the finale airing on April 17, 1975. Days of our Lives expanded to an hour the following Monday.

1976: On Ryan's Hope, Sam flirted with Mary and offered her a job. She made it clear to him if she accepted, their relationship would remain strictly business.

1980: On As the World Turns, Mary (Kelly Wood) was shocked to see Joyce (Barbara Rodell) alive and back in Oakdale.

1980: On Another World, Charlie Hobson (Fred J. Scollay) married Ada McGowan (Constance Ford) in the Cory mansion living room.

1983: On General Hospital, Tiffany (Sharon Wyatt) thought Noah (Rick Springfield) was about to propose marriage. Instead, Noah told her that he wanted to be free to date other woman.

1983: On The Edge of Night, Nora Fulton (Catherine Bruno) was strangled by a cable at the WMON-TV station. The episode ended with Gavin Wylie (Mark Arnold) seeing Nicole Cavanaugh running out of the TV station and then seeing Nora's dead body inside.

Thanks to Jack for sending in the item above.

1985: On Santa Barbara, Lionel (Nicolas Coster) tried to wrap his brain around the fact that "Dominic" and Sophia (Judith McConnell) were the same person. Lionel later fell off the train during a confrontation with Dr. Marcello Armonti (Wolf Muser, who began a 6-month run).

1993: On General Hospital, after lying to Jason (Steve Burton) and Brenda (Vanessa Marcil) so they could spend more time together, Karen (Cari Shayne) and Jagger (Antonio Sabato Jr.) played in the snow.

1997: UK soap Quayside premiered. The show was canceled after 17 episodes.

2005: On The Young and the Restless, it was another round in the long-running "Drucilla vs. Phyllis" feud when Drucilla (Victoria Rowell) came calling to tell Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) about her promotion at Newman Enterprises. But this particular encounter would spill into real life due to the now-infamous "spit take" that occurred between the two actresses.

Thanks to FoxCrane for sending in the item above.

2005: On All My Children, JR (Jacob Young) rushed off before Adam (David Canary) could tell him Dorian (Robin Strasser) Lord was arriving from Llanview. JR said he was going to visit Kelly Buchanan to get information on his son. When Dorian arrived, Adam started by congratulating her on her recent release from prison and Dorian said she did not kill Paul. In order to get Dorian to trust him, Adam told her about his idea—that Paul crashed the plane on purpose, switched babies and JR got Bianca's baby. He said that JR's child did not die in the crash and that Paul gave him to Kelly. Dorian did not seem surprised and when Adam asked her why, she said she was just in shock. Adam suggested they team up, but things went sour when Mary walked in, Dorian left and apologized for not being able to help Adam.